I can allocate whatever size i want using malloc. Now it has to be freed after i use it. What happens if i dont free the memory allocated using malloc. Say i were to write programs continuously using malloc but never free the allocated memory. Would my OS get affected by it and start behaving abnormally.
I read there is this phenomenon called memory leak which comes into play if we dont free the allocated memory. What is implied by it and what are its disadvantages ?
Mallocing space continually would eventually make your system run out of memory.
Since every time you malloc you request the operating system for some more memory. And if you do not free it, then the operating system thinks that you
are using that memory.
No. All the program memory is freed by the OS (or should be) at program termination, no matter what. So if you malloc something that stays in use until the end of the program, you actually do not have to free it.Originally Posted by roaan
A memory leak is when you do something like this:
Every time malloc is called, the address in ptr changes. However, the previously malloc'd memory is still protected and cannot be overwritten. But, notice, you do not have a ptr to it anymore, which means you cannot use it or free it now! So it will just continue to uselessly exist for the duration of the program.Code:char *ptr; for (i=0;i<13;i++) { ptr = malloc(666); [do things with ptr] }
C programming resources:
GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
The C Book -- nice online learner guide
Current ISO draft standard
CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge
When an application terminates, the OS will take back all the memory it allocated. So your OS will not be affected by an application that didn't free memory before terminating.
The leaky application only takes up resources while it is running.
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So even if i do not use free it would be no issue. But then i suppose its a good practice to deallocate all the memory that i tried allocating to it.
Yes, it is a good practice.
Also if you application runs for awhile, you do not want it to chew up system resources that could be used by other applications.
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If your system runs out of memory, bad things MAY happen. Most OS's keep some memory in reserve so that system critical functions can still allocate memory.
If your application uses up all the memory that is available then it will probably fail/crash - which is never a good thing [ok, it may not be a terrible thing, but it's certainly not a nice thing].
--
Mats
Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.
It's nice to watch how the OS handles such a situation by swapping everything else out.
Screenshot of me trying 7z-compression with a 64mb dictionarysize in ultra mode on a 512MB notebook: http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/4...foreafterj.jpg (left: before, right: after)
Not so much anymore. Back in the old DOS days if you malloc'ed memory and didn't free it, it was gone. They _TRIED_ to correct this with the new memory manager (that also allowed access to more than 640KB) but it still wasn't all that great.
Now days, though, the only real issues with memory leaks are in Kernel code. For example, in the Linux kernel when a process irresponsibly uses kmalloc() for dynamic memory allocation, the memory is forever lost and can only be reclaimed by a reboot.
Any leaks are bad. I would not downplay the issues.
Example: Why does Firefox consume so much memory?
Answer: Because a lot of the plug-ins leak memory!
If you start leaking memory, 2 things may happen:
1) The OS will start paging out memory of other processes, hurting their performance.
2) Suddenly you've reached the allocation roof and when you try to allocate more, the OS says no, and the program usually malfunctions or crashes.
Don't leak memory. Play nice.
